War rifles of my grandfathers

[AlexanderA]

My paternal grandfather served in the army in WW1 -- the Ottoman army. He was drafted into it very much against his will. Luckily he was discharged after he became ill with typhus.

I doubt that the Turks trusted him with a rifle. Ethnic minorities like him were usually put into labor battalions.

 

[Gladius]

My dad was a tanker (3rd Army, 11th Armored Division, 22nd Tank Battalion) in WWII. He trained on the 03. He also carried a Thompson, then an M1 Carbine (he preferred the carbine, complaining that the Tommy gun was too heavy, too awkward, and the stock kept hitting him in the thigh when he walked patrol). However, it was an M3 Grease Gun that he actually used in combat (when he wasn't using the 37mm main gun or the .30 hatch and coaxial guns).